Urbane #BookHaul: ‘Cos we read series in order

Today, I have just one question… Do you read series in order or are you an alien who can jump in a series mid-way through? If you know anything about my bookish life, you’ll know I’m a firm believer of series being read in order – you wouldn’t celebrate your 6th birthday before you’ve celebrated your 3rd now would you!? I’d be lying if I said, I haven’t been caught out a few times, like with Cursed by Thomas Enger – I was lucky with that one because I really enjoyed it, despite it being book 4 in the series. However, deep down in my soul, something didn’t feel right and so I bought books 1-3 because I have to know what happened prior to know what I missed, so my soul can feel complete.

So that brings me to my Urbane book haul. I have loved receiving books each month from Urbane as a member of their book club – I now have more books published by urbane than any other publisher. These last few months I received three books that look really good but they’re all part of a series, so I had to make use of my book club perks and purchase five books that would allow me to read the three books I received. Those three books were:

No one said it would be easy, needing to purchase five book in order to read three but that’s the way the cookie crumbles! Imagine how I felt when I bought Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin, only to find out it’s like book 20 in the Inspector Rebus series!!!! Let me not get sidetracked and start telling you all the times this has happened to me, like when I bought The Swedish Girl by Alex Gray, only to find out it’s book 10 in the DCI Lorimer series – I could go on… but I won’t. So, I contacted Matthew at Urbane to purchase these five backlist books, and when I was browsing the backlist I saw a book that looked really good, so I purchased that too. And now, here I am with six more books to add to my Urbane collection.

Before I show you my mini haul, I wanted to share with you why joining Urbane Book Club is one of the best decisions I’ve made this year. Not only do I receive six newly released books each month (last month, eight) but I also get a discount on any Urbane purchases I make. If I were to buy these books from Amazon, it would have cost me £52.94 – but as a member of the book club, I got these books (in paperback) for the grand total of £20 including postage and packaging! If that doesn’t convince you, then I cannot help you, my friend. Find all the information you need to know at the Urbane Book Club here.

Harm (Rina Walker #1) by Hugh Fraser

Acapulco 1974: Rina Walker is on assignment. Just another quick, clean kill. She wakes to discover her employer’s severed head on her bedside table, and a man with an AK-47 coming through the door of her hotel room. She needs all her skills to neutralise her attacker and escape. After a car chase, she is captured by a Mexican drug boss who exploits her radiant beauty and ruthless expertise to eliminate an inconvenient member of the government. Notting Hill 1956: Fifteen-year-old Rina is scavenging and stealing to support her siblings and her alcoholic mother. When a local gangster attacks her younger sister, Rina wreaks violent revenge and murders him. Innocence betrayed, Rina faces the brutality of the post-war London underworld – a world that teaches her the skills she needs to kill…

Threat (Rina Walker #2) by Hugh Fraser

London 1961. In the dying days of the Macmillan government, George Preston is in control of crime in West London and Rina Walker is his favoured contract killer. When Rina is hired by Soho vice king Tony Farina to investigate the disappearance of girls from his clubs she discovers that they are being supplied to a member of the English aristocracy for the gratification of his macabre sexual tastes. Rina’s pursuit of the missing girls and her efforts to save the innocent from slaughter become increasingly perilous as she grapples with interwoven layers of corruption and betrayal and makes her way, via the louche nightclubs of Berlin, towards a final confrontation with depravity.

The Brief (Charles Holborne #1) by Simon Michael

In the 60s London of gangsters, prejudice and terrifying gang wars, Barrister Charles Holborne spends his life dealing with the worst examples of violent criminality. After successfully winning a number of high profile cases, he is building a reputation among Soho’s criminal classes as a man who gets the job done, a reputation that doesn’t endear him to his establishment colleagues.Yet Charles is not all he seems, and is battling both personal demons and his own past. When his philandering wife Henrietta is found with her throat slashed, Charles finds himself on the wrong side of the law and in serious trouble of the murderous kind. Arrested for her murder, can Charles discover the truth of her brutal slaying and escape the hangman’s noose?Based upon a real case and genuine court documents, The Brief is a compelling criminal drama, and an evocative slice of sleazy glamour from the Swinging Sixties. Simon Michael delivers an addictive read for any crime fan.

An Honest Man (Charles Holborne #2) by Simon Michael

Criminal barrister Charles Holborne may have just escaped the hangman by proving he was framed for murder, but his life is now in ruins. His wife is dead, his high-flying career has morphed into criminal notoriety, and bankruptcy threatens. When the biggest brief of Charles’s career unexpectedly lands on his desk, it looks as if he has been thrown a lifeline.

But far from keeping him afloat, it drags him ever deeper into the shadowy underworld of 1960s London. Now, not only is his practice at stake, but his very life. Can Charles extricate himself from a chess game played from the shadows by corrupt police officers and warring gangs without once again turning to crime himself?

Based on real Old Bailey cases and genuine court documents, An Honest Man is the second in the series of Charles Holborne novels by barrister, Simon Michael, set in the sleazy London of the 1960s.

Dancers in the Wind (Hannah Weybridge #1) by Anne Coates

SHE IS HUNTING FOR THE TRUTH, BUT WHO IS HUNTING HER?

Freelance journalist and single mother Hannah Weybridge is commissioned by a national newspaper to write an investigative article on the notorious red light district in Kings Cross. There she meets prostitute Princess, and police inspector in the vice squad, Tom Jordan. When Princess later arrives on her doorstep beaten up so badly she is barely recognisable, Hannah has to make some tough decisions and is drawn ever deeper into the world of deceit and violence.

Three sex workers are murdered, their deaths covered up in a media blackout, and Hannah herself is under threat. As she comes to realise that the taste for vice reaches into the higher echelons of the great and the good, Hannah realises she must do everything in her power to expose the truth …. and stay alive.

Fade to Dead by Tara Moore

A serial killer, The Director, is on the loose in South London. He’s snatching young women off the street to ‘act’ in his movies. He’s got a type: barely legal, blonde and beautiful. Newly promoted DI Jessica Wideacre is tasked with heading up the investigation. But with few clues to go on and a rising body count, Jessica begins to fear she isn’t up to the job. Her boss is breathing down her neck. Her marriage is in jeopardy and the pressure is driving her to drink. Meanwhile, The Director has another victim in his sights. He’s rolled out the red carpet, he’s got a killer script, and now he’s got his star. It’s a dream role, but not for her.

I’ve already got my eye on a few more backlist books to buy. Have you read any books published by Urbane that I need to add to my next order?

So glad you’re enjoying your Urbane experience, especially as I think I was responsible for it. I just need to find time to read them. I have though read ‘The Brief’ and loved it despite thinking it wasn’t for me. Out of curiosity when you ordered did you use a code or contact Matthew direct? Enjoy your additional book haul 🙂

It’s happened to me accidentally as well. Like with Cursed, as you say. I did buy the other ones but haven’t had time to read them yet. 😒 And I was on the blog tour for Wolves in the Dark from Orenda which ended up being book 21 in a series that’s been going for twenty years. That was a novel experience 😂

I’ve been thinking about this Urbane club for a while now, mainly because of you and Jill. I just can’t seem to find if they ship outside of the UK and how much it would then cost me, if they do.

Fabulous book haul! Hope you enjoy them when you find the time to read them. 😄

You know I’m in the alien category😂 I just don’t mind jumping in mid-series. I really think most authors do a great job of catching readers up on the pertinent info. Of course I do have fav series that I read in order but only 2 I can think of:)

Sharon Bolton’s Lacey Flint series, Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes trilogy, and Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan which yes I started with book 3 but then read in order through book 7:) Have you read the Stephen King trilogy?

I’ve got book one in the Lacey Flint series. You’ve put the Kerrigan series on my radar so I’ll be hunting a copy of book one. I haven’t read the Mr Mercedes trilogy yet but I have book 2, so as you’ve probably figured, I need to buy book one 😂

For me, the order I read things in depends on the relevance. If a sequel only has a small link to the previous book then I don’t mind reading it first. But if important information is in the first book I have to read it in the right order. For example I read Huckleberry Finn before Tom Sawyer and that was fine

£20?! That’s amazing! I do try to read books in order when it come to series – the only exceptions are where I’ve been reassured that novels are only loosely linked. The Charles Holborne series is great 🙂

Right, I was expecting at least £30 when I emailed the list, I detect I’ll be buying plenty more books from their backlist. I’ve got plenty of Urbane reading to do, I haven’t read one book yet 🙈 Maybe I’ll start with the Holborne series 😉